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This is the companion site for Learning Flash CS4 Professional (O’Reilly).Please explore the pages above for more info about the book, downloadable source files, table of contents, portfolio project site, and much more.

Inverse Kinematics in Flash CS4: FOTB’09

Here are the files from my Flash on the Beach 2009 presentation on IK in Flash CS4 Professional. I’ll try to add some personal notes during the conference, but here’s a description of the session to get you going.

Lead the Hand and the Arm will Follow: Inverse Kinematics in Flash CS4

Flash CS4 introduced inverse kinematics to your animating arsenal* which allows you to create skeletal structures, or armatures, for controlling animations. This session will explore a variety of creative and problem-solving tasks using armatures, and focus on both timeline- and ActionScript-based solutions.

Create runtime interactions like robotic arms, cranes, and similar simulations, without a lick of code.

Speed up character animations by animating IK poses. Create walk cycles that are more appealing than standard tweens, but at a fraction of the time of using frame-by-frame techniques.

Give that snivelling worm a spine. Morph shapes with internal skeletons and adjust the way the morph performs by binding bones to specific control points.

Place your armatures anywhere you like. Don’t be restricted to the first frame of the timeline.

Control your armatures with ActionScript.

Use inverse kinematics to control your animations and let Flash do the math for you. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto!